Media and Information Cases before the Appellate and European Courts in 2016 [Updated3]

7012016

There are a number of interesting cases in the field of media and information law to look forward to in 2016. We list below the ones which have been drawn to our attention. Please let us know if there are any further cases which should be added.

English Courts

There are two important media and information cases due to be heard by the UK Supreme Court this year:

PNM v Times Newspapers, 6 April 2016. This case concerns an application for an injunction to restrain the publication of the name of a person arrested but not charged (see our post about the Court of Appeal decision).

In addition, the Supreme Court has given the defendant permission to appeal in the case of Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd ([2014] EWCA Civ 1574). It appears that the defendant is seeking to challenge the claimant’s CFA as being incompatible with Article 10 but we do not, at present, have any further details.

In addition, the unsuccessful defendants in two important privacy cases heard by the Court of Appeal in 2016 have announced that they are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

We understand that the defendant is seeking permission to appeal on costs in case of Theedom v Nourish Training Ltd.

European Court of Human Rights

The decision in the important Article 10 “access to information case” of Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v Hungary (no.18030/11), heard by the Grand Chamber on 4 November 2015 is likely to be handed down in the first half of 2016.

There is a closely related United Kingdom case which has been communicated, Times Newspapers Limited and Kennedy v. The United Kingdom – 64367/14 [2015] ECHR 359 (17 March 2015). This follows the decision of the Supreme Court in Kennedy v Charity Commission([2014] UKSC 20) (see our post).

There are three United Kingdom cases concerning surveillance pending before the Court:

On 14 December 2015 the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR decided to refer to the Grand Chamber, the case of Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v. Finland (no. 931/13), which concerns the ban
on two publishing companies’ processing of taxation data and the qualification of public interest and journalistic activity.